This being one of the most complex stories of our time, we wanted the process of our decision making to be transparent. Alan asked Francesca Panetta, co-creator of the award-winning Firestorm interactive, how we could showcase the inside story to our readers.

She decided to create an audio documentary series and from that point on we started to record our internal meetings. “The biggest story in the world” is a weekly podcast, which you can subscribe to here.

The first episode tells the story of how the project first emerged – which for most of the journalists involved came in the form of an email on Christmas Eve from Alan Rusbridger.

It read:

“Colleagues,

This time next year I won’t be the editor of the Guardian: indeed, well before that I’ll have stepped down.

I’m not at all depressed. This is the right time to be moving on. But I do have an urge to do something powerful, focused and important with the Guardian while I’m still here. And it will be about climate change.

Sometimes there’s a story so enormous that conventional journalism struggles to cope with it, never mind do justice. The imminent threat to the species is the most existentially important story any of us could imagine telling – for our sakes, for our children and for their children. But, as journalists, we also know that we sometimes tire of telling, and that people tire of reading.”

The latest episode takes place in the new year with the team searching for an angle. There is debate and disagreement. Who is to blame? Do we target governments or corporations? George Monbiot says we should focus on a global political solution, such as a carbon auction, to put on the table at the climate conference in Paris.

James Randerson prefers a more practical solution that readers can get their teeth stuck into – could we take inspiration from the global divestment movement founded by Bill McKibben at 350.org? Investigative journalist Felicity Lawrence agrees: “the powerful thing about divestment is that it provides a moral framework that people can get behind.”

How did we come to an agreement? You can follow the inside story of the Keep in the Ground campaign every week by subscribing to our podcast. Are we debating the right issues and making the right decisions? Tell us what you think in the comments below.